Parents demand justice after police kill son with shot to back

Parents of a 22-year-old messenger killed after being shot in the back allegedly by a Banglamung police officer are threatening to leave their body outside the Nongprue Police Station until they get justice.

Distraught parents Somcha Jaengsaeng, 56, and his wife Prayun, 48, cried in anger at the March 15 Thamsamakkee Temple funeral of their son, Anan Buangam. They claim the boy, shot around 4 a.m. March 11 in a dark stretch of Soi Khao Noi 14, was gunned down without cause and police are burying the investigation.

A mother grieves over the senseless killing of her 22-year-old son.

Friend Sarit Cheetawong, 15, said the two men were driving home when they approached a dark police checkpoint staffed by four men. As they approached, the four blocked the road and, thinking them thieves, the youth sped around them, not realizing it was, in fact, three officers and a police volunteer.

The officers opened fire, shooting 12 times, Prayun claimed, hitting Anan once in the back, ripping apart his internal organs.

Sarit said the officers just stared at the body in the road as he demanded to know why they shot him. The teen put Anan on his bike and took him to Banglamung Hospital where he died.

Banglamung Police Lt. Vinai Horien initially promised to check which officers were working the checkpoint and pursue the accusations. However, four days later nothing had been done, the parents claimed. They accused police of burying the case.

In protest, the parents said that, instead of cremating their son, they would place him in front of the Nongprue Police Station to bring attention to the case and force an investigation.

This article was published in the Pattaya Mail newspaper on Friday March 21, 2014 (Vol. XXII No. 12).